Vacuum sweeper



March 22, 1927. 1,621,919

c. c. AIN

VACUUM SWEEPER Filed Auz. 5. 1925 2 Shasta-Sheet 1 'fang c 73 Im/ENTOR.

)La ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 22, 1927.

y UNITED. "STATES,

CARL c. BAIN, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNoR TowwoLvEaINE SUPPLY AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- TION F PENNSYLVANIA.

lVACUUM swEEPER.

Application mea August a, 11925. 'semi No. 47,744.

The object which -I have in view is the provision of a toy vacuum sweeper for childrens use, which will operate to pick up dust and dirt and .deposit the same in a dust bag, in simulation of a full sized vacuum sweeper.

For this purpose I have invented a vacuum sweeper provided -with a slotted suctionopening which runs over the surface to be swept and which is connected by a throat to the intake of a rotary fan whose discharge isconnected to a dust bag suspended from the handle of the sweeper. The fan is driven` from the axle of the traction wheels of the sweeper, and the contractions are such that,

when the sweeper is moved Vforwardly the fan is driven in the proper direction to produce suction at the slotted opening, and when the sweeper is moved rearwardly the fan continues to 'cause suction at suction opening.

-I have invented new andv improved means for driving the fan from the axle.

Other'novel features of construction and also of arrangement of parts will-'appear from the following description. A

In the accompanyin drawings which illustrate a practical em diment of my in-y vention Fig. 1 is al side elevation of the sweeper the handle being broken od to save space; ig. 2 is-a vertical, longitudinal section of the sweeper; Fig, 3 is a front elevation on reduced scale of the fan chamber casting; Fig. 4 is a 1an view of the operating parts with, the an chamber casting and the casing removed; Fig. 5 is a front eleva- 36 tion of thevsarne; Fi 6 is an enlarged detail in.-section along t e line VI-VI in Fig.

` 4 showing a part of the driving mechanism;

Fig. 7 is a side view of the closure disk, and

Fig. 8 is a rear viewA of the fan chamber casting detached..

Thefollowing is a detaleddescription of the drawings. v 1

The outer closure of the mechanism is comprised of a fan chamber casting 1 and a caslng 2, which latter is preferably,l made of sheet metal. The casting 1 is provided with a circular fan chamber Siwhich isdisposed in a vertical plane and which is closed at the rear by a detachable plate 4. 5 isthe throat of the fan chamber communicating withits central frot,-and extending downwardly and forwardly and hav# ing the ylaterally .extended and slotted mout-h or suction-slot 6'which is moved 'over-thesurface to be swept. The throat 5 is referably cast integral with the fan cham er.

Leading ol from the perimeter of the fan 'chamber 3 isthe discharge neck ,7 also integral with the casting 1 and extending upwardly and rearwardly. substantially as shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 8. The textile dust -bag 8 has its open, lower end secured on the neck 7 and has its upper end suspended from the handle 9 in the manner usual with vacuum'sweepers.v The handle 9 has its lower end inserted into, the neck of a yoke 10 whose legs have inturned ends which are mounted on the protruding ends'l of the main axle, so that the handle is pivotally attached to the sweeper yon a horizontal axis. u 11 represents a rod transversel mounted in the casing 2 at the rear of an abovethe main axle, yoke 10 being adapted to engage the protruding lnds'lof said rod to limit the drop of the 12 represents brackets extending rearwardly from either end of the'suctlon-slot 6 and 13 Iis a shaft journaled in and extend ing between the same, and upon which is mounted the roller 14 which movably supports the suction slot at the proper elevation v above .the surfacel to be swept.

A rotary fan is mounted in the chamber 3. This fan may be of any suitable t pe. In its preferred Aform it is comprised Io curved vanes 15 mounted on a back disk l16 which in turnis fixed on the front end of a shaft 17 which extends forwardly through a bear ing-hole in. the plate 4 axially of the fan chamber." The rear end -of the shaft 17 is journaled in a bearing-hole in a bracket 18 mounted on and extending rearwardly from the plate 4. Between its bearings said shaft has v ri idlyv mounted thereon a pinion 19 which 1s preferably ofthe'basket or spider4 type shown, being struck-up into shape from sheet metal.

The spokes of the pinion 19 are engagedA from below by the vertical .teeth 20 arranged in annular series around the edge of the horizontal compound gear 21,. e

. The gear 21 is provided withl an axial up- 'wardly'extendin sleeve hub'22 to whose upper end is attac ed the .disk 23 from which 105 outwardly downwardly inclined legs V24 extend to and are attached to the gear 21.

The'extended orqsleeve bearin insures the gear rotating` `truly on its axis. The verthe s eeve bearing of the gear is secured at of the screws 40, which attach the its top to the horizontally. disposed bracket extending rearwardly from the bracket 18 and at its bottom to a bracket 26.

Adjacent to` its axis the away to form the radially disposed spokes 27, as shown in Fig. 4, with which the pinionV 28 meshes from below. The pinion.28 is loose on the main axle 29, a clutch device being provided whereby when the sweeper is moved forwardly, said pinion is rotated in the proper direction lto drive the fan in'v the direction necessary to apply suction at the slot 6, but when the sweeper ismove'd rearwardly the pinion 28 and, consequently, the fan continues to rotate by its inertia 1n the direction to cause suction at slot 6.

The clutch device which I prefer to employ for this purpose is of the following construction.

The pinion 2.8 is provided on one side with an annular concentric flange 30 within which is contained a cam-disk 31 fixed to the axle 29 and consequently revolving at all times therewith. TheA disk 31 has its edge cut away at a plurality of spaced apart oints to form the cam recesses 32 -in whie are contained the balls or rollers 33, the recesses bein so formed lthat when the axle is turning 1n the direction imparted thereto by the forward movement of the sweeper, the balls 33 become wed ed between the disk 31 and the annular ange 30, thus causing the pinion 28 to rotate with the disk and axle, but when the axle is rotated in a reverse direction, as when the sweeper is 'moved rearwardly, the balls' retreat to the deeper ends of the recesses, and the pinion 28 continues to revolve with the vfan which runs from inertia. A closure disk 34 fits within the annular dan e 30 and is keyed or otherwise secured to t e-axle 29 to hold the balls 33 in the recesses 32.

' The axle 29 is journaled in the twin arms 35 integral with and extending rearwardly from abracket 36 fixed at the rear face of -thev plate 4. 'The bracket 26 may be fixed to the rear face of the bracket 36.

37 represents rubber tired wheels which are ixed on the axle 29 and whose friction against the door, as the-'ewes r is caused to travel, drives the axle v29 an '.the disk 31.

. The casing 2, which, as stated is preferably formed of sheet metal, is rovided with slots 38 in its side walls exten ing upwardly from the bottom to give lclearance for the -protruding ends of the main `axle 29. At its front the" casing is provided with` an upwardly extending pierced ear 39 which fits against the plate 4.and through which one plate to the fan casing, extends. At'either s1de near the bottom the casing is provided withv fol'-v gear 21 is cutl ported in place by the bent in tongues 44 integral with the bottom of the rear wall of the casing 2 and similar, rearwardly extending tongues 45 integral with Tthe bottom 'edge of the plate 4.

It is evident from the foregoing that as the sweeper is 'moved forwardly, the fan will be driven in proper "direction to suck the dust and dirt up through the slot 6, the throat 5 into the fan chamber whence it will be driven through the neck 7 into the bag 8. However, when the sweeper is moved rearwardly, the fan and gears will continue to revolve in a direction -to cause suction at slot 6. v

It is evident that the fan and driving mechanism is a very simple and compact unitary structure which may be rst assembled and then inclosed in the casting 1 and the casing 2. 4,

l My im roved sweeper is quite inexpensive to manu acture, but at the same time it is substantial and durable so as ,toE withstand the rough usage to which toys are usually subjected. It is also` an entirely operative device, and thus is especially attractive to children. y What I desire to claim is 1. In aA vacuum sweeper, the combination of a substantially vertically disposed fan chamber providedgwith a suction inlet opening and a discharge opening, a fan in said chamber rotating on a substantially horizontal axis, a fan shaft extending rearwardly of the fan chamber, a pinion on said fan shaft, a gear. wheel ]ournaled on a substantially vertical axisrat thel rear of said fan chamber, said gear wheel being provided with an annular series of teeth arranged about the perimeter of the gear wheel and meshing with the pinion and said gear wheel being also provided with radially disposed spokes, an axle, traction wheels fixed on saidy axle, a second pinion loosely mounted on the axle and meshing withdsaid spokes, and aj one-way clutch interposed between the second pinion and the axle whereby when the sweeper moves forwardly the `second pinion is ca sed to rotate.

2. n a vacuum sweeper, the combination of a substantially vertically disposed fan chamber provided with a suction ,inlet opening and a discharge opening, a fan insaid chamber rotating on a substantially horizontal axis, a fa'n shaft extending rearwardly from the fan chambera pair of horizontally disposed brackets extending rearwardly from, sai'dfan chamber and spacedapart vertically, a gear wheel jourrialed on a ver tical axis between said brackets, said gear wheel havln inner .and outer concentric series ofteet ,l a pinion on said fan .shaft iso meshing with teeth of one of said series, a driving axle, traction VWheels fixed on the driving axle, a second pinion loosely mounted on the driving axle and'meshmg with teeth of theother series, and a clutchmechanism for locking the second pinion to the driving axle when the sweeperismoved forwardly. I

3. In avacuum sweeper, the combination of a substantially vertically disposed lfan chamber having a suction inlet opening and vertically disposed hub-"member 'rotatably' mounted betweensai'd brackets, a gear concentrically disposed to and rigid with said hub member, said gear having inner and outer concentric series of teeth, apinion mounted on the fan shaft meshing with teeth of one of said series, a driving axle, traction wheels xed on the driving axle, a second pinion loosely mounted on the drivingaxle and meshing with teeth -of the other series, and a clutch mechanism for locking the second piniony to the axle when the sweeper is moved forwardly.

Signed at Pittsburgh, Pa., this 28th day of July, 1925.

CARL C. BAIN. 

